My time spent during "The Great E.V. Depression" (See Part 1) was exciting, educational and explorational. I had discovered the music of Tangerine Dream, and the Moog synthesizer. I bought a Sony Reel-To-Reel tape recorder and a cool Marantz Cassette deck with a 4 channel mixer in it. Musically I couldn't keep up with my talented friends so I figured they'd have to keep me in the band if I owned some nice recording equipment.

I also had fun with other music projects during this time period, such as...

Helping to record Wedge, a band with Jeff, Joe and led by their older brother Steve.

I did a lot of recording of a funky project with Rob Bradley, Jeff Fasula, Tom Sutton and Joe Fasula called Uncle Purple’s Superior Funk. (Superior Funk for short)

I also recorded some solo project stuff for Rob Bradley.

And, I also did some recording for the Vulvatones. A humorous group with Joe Fasula, Steve Fasula, Jeff Fasula, Charlie England and others.

I wanted a MiniMoog so bad, but could not afford one. And in 1975 ended up buying a PAiA 2720 modular kit. Most of the PAiA was sent to me in envelopes, all I had to do was solder the resistors, diodes and transistors to the circuit boards, solder some wires and mount the modules to the keyboard case and play! Well, The PAiA never did work right, I couldn't keep it tuned, so it was a complete disaster. Jeff and Joe would often joke, "Whya Did I Buya Paia?"

After the great PAiA mistake I saved my money, and in 1976 bought a Mellotron M400 (s/n 489). The Mellotron was an incredible machine. And because it was used by most of my favorite bands, Tangerine Dream, King Crimson, Genesis, Yes and Gentle Giant, it was the perfect choice as my first real instrument.

To enhance the sound of mine, I ran it through a Morley Phaser Pedal and a Morley Echo Pedal.

It soon became apparent the PAiA was useless, And I still wanted an analog synthesizer, so I bought a new Univox K-2 Mini Korg, I was now equipped to explore my musical boundaies.

From 1975 to 1979 I recorded enough material for my own solo album. But for some reason, I never got around to actually releasing the material in "album" form, and it was completely forgotten about until October of 1999 when I found the Master Tapes buried in a box of tapes. After wiping the mold off the tape, I designed a simple cover and transfered it to Digital Compact Disc complete with tape hiss and dropouts, timing errors and wrong notes. I used my initials C.P.S. And called the album In Earth Nights.

Here are the liner notes from the CD. . .

"In Earth Nights" was recorded from 1974 to 1979. All of the music was recorded late at night, in the dark, with headphones on. (Big white egg shell Pioneers!)

The music was 100% improvised... The first "track" of music was recorded live to a Sony reel to reel 1/4" tape deck. Then as that was recorded to a Marantz cassette deck, another part was mixed in during that recording. If the take was a "keeper". (more good parts than bad!) the process was repeated until the composition was complete. As more overdubs were done, tape hiss increased, and clarity diminished.

The Songs...

1.THE SPELL... Inspired by H. R. Giger's painting. This song features Jeff Fasula on bass and Rob Bradley on guitar. Vocal sounds are made through the sound hole of an electric African thumb piano.

2.NIGHTWIND... The old Morley echo pedal along with the Mellotron volume pedal create very nice string sounds. Jeff also played bass on this one.